Let's get menacing … children inspect a poster for Beanotown at London's Southbank Centre. Photograph: Linda Nylind for the Guardian

Dennis the Menace greets visitors at the door, which must be hot work for whoever is inside the foam suit, on a fine day on London's South Bank. Still, spare a thought for Gnasher – tucked inside his spiky black fur – as the pair prepare visitors for Beanotown – an exhibition, club, library, bar and arcade all rolled into one. Part of the Southbank Centre's engaging Festival of Neighbourhood, it celebrates 75 years of Britain's most characterful comic.

The exhibition side of Beanotown has precious artwork that illuminates the history of the weekly comic going back to before the second world war. Artists tell their stories on headphones, recalling the days when Biffo the Bear was the cover star. In the 1950s, however, an explosion of creativity saw the Beano introduce what were to become its most famous characters.

At the very moment when youth culture was starting to grow and styles such as the teddy boy marked a rebellion against traditional British stoicism, the Beano created its own world of subversive mayhem. Dennis the Menace first appeared in 1951; the Bash Street Kids were born in 1954. The delinquent strip was drawn by Leo Baxendale and originally titled When the Bell Rings. Baxendale, a Beano genius, also created Minnie the Minx in 1953.

Set inside a bunker-like space below the grand architecture of the South Bank, Beanotown has an appropriately riotous atmosphere while still being full of things to create and study. The library of annuals is a delight. So is a moving recording of artist David Sutherland, remembering how he had to take over Biffo the Bear in mid-strip after the original creator died. But the Beano's imaginary world of menaces, minxes and dodgers has been part of British youth culture since there was any such thing, and it fully deserves its retrospective among the greats of the arts at the Southbank Centre. The good news is that Beanotown is done really, really well.

This is a lovely way to mark a notable artistic anniversary. Let's get menacing.